Method of and means for forming felted strips



. 28, 1937. D. c'. DRILL METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR FORMING FELTED STRIPSOriginal Filed Jui 5, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Da/ie/ C. 0n7/ INVENTOR.

BY C

ATTORNEYS.

m mm mm l lmil r I" O v Dec. 28, 1937. D. c. DRILL METHOD OF AND MEANSFOR FORMING FELTED STRIPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed July 5, 1935 I0mm 6.07)

INVENTOR.

BY jkjau 619W ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR FORMINGFELTED STRIPS Daniel 0. Drill, Wabash, Ind., assignor to American RockWool Corporation, Wabash County,

Ind.

Application July 5, 1935, Serial No. 29,944 Renewed September 4, 1987 10Claims.

This invention relates to methods of and means for forming feltedstrips, blankets or batts, by

the control of the deposition of fibers in a settling chamber. v

The chief object of this invention is to provide a method and a meansvwhereby strips, blankets or batts having uniform dimensions, resilience,and flexibility may be formed in a settling chamber on the floor ofwhich falling fibers are deposited.

A further object is to provide an eflicient and dependable method of andmeans for forming mineral wool batts of the character described.

Blankets and batts have heretofore been made by blowing or blastingfibers.into suspension and thereafter depositing the suspended fibers onthe floors of settling chambers which usually consist of continuouslymovable conveyors.

The method of manufacturing felted strips, blankets or batts,hereinafter termed batts, by

- the deposition of fibers within a settling chamher, offers many of theadvantages found in economical and continuous'operations. This method,however, has the defect that many of the floating fibers strike againstand slide down the side walls of the chamber and become deposited on thesides of the forming batt. This action causes a batt to be formed whichis relatively thin in its central portions and high on its edgeportions. Such a batt is unsatisfactory to the trade, which demands abatt'of uniform thickness. Rollers have long been used to compress thehigh edges of batts and make the batts rectangular in cross section. Therolled batt, however, is soft in its center and hard on its sideportions. Numerous other means have been employed, but insofar as isknown to the applicant, no satisfactory way has been discovered to forma batt in a settling chamber which is of uniform thickness, flexibilityand resilience.

When the batt is made of fibers which are tacky, or coated with thebinding material, the difllculties of the problem are enormouslyincreased, for the reason that an unusually large proportion of thefibers fail to rebound from the side walls of the chamber.

Mineral wool batts are made of the felted fibers of rock, or slag wool.These fibers are inherently tacky, are coated with a viscous bindingmaterial, and easily adhere to each other and t0 the side walls of thesettling chamber. In actual operation, they form myriads of bunches,which, by reason of their aggregateweight, fall down the side walls ofthe chamber. in a moreor less continuous stream. I, therefore, havechosen'to 11- lustrate and describe my invention as applied to themaking of mineral wool batts, but its application is, of course, notlimited to the formation of any particular type of batt. The presentinvention broadly contemplates the use of moving guide members on whichthe descending fibers slide downwardly and by whichthey are distributedevenly upon successive transverse sections of the forming batt. The fullnature of this invention and its other objects will be understood fromthe accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partly sectional and partly diagrammatic view of asettling chamber, and a cupola forming part of a mineral wool plant inwhich the device of my invention is installed within the settlingchamber,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same, showing the roof of thesettling chamber removed,

Figure 3 is a vertical 'sectional view of the settling chamber, and,

Figure 4 is a section taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 3.

In carrying out my invention, I make use of any suitable settlingchamber on the base of which falling fibers are deposited to form feltedbatts.

For the purpose of illustrating an application of the principles of myinvention, I have depicted a blow chamber l, which is operativelyassociated with a cupola 2 and a steam, or air nozzle 3, in thecontinuous production of a mineral wool batt 4.

Mineral wool is at present produced by causing a molten mineral stream5'to pour from the cupola upon a blast 6, which shreds the stream ofmolten material into fibers. The fibers, after being formed in the blowchamber, float rapidly about its interior, until they either becomesettld on the base of the chamber, or move into contact with its walls.I

The chamber I is provided with a frame I, which supports a front wall 8,a rear wall 9, a roof l0, and side wall portions ll, l2, l3 and M. Theroof is provided with a vent l5, which is covered with a ventilatorhousing It, through which the heated gases and vapors pass out of thechamber. The rear wall 9 has an open portion I! through which theco-mingled steam and molten material are blown into the blow chamber.The side wall portions I3 and I4 are preferably offset from the sidewall portions l I and I2 and are connected to these portions byhorizontally extending metal strips I8.

The side wall portions are supported on either includes a foot portionIS, a lower portion 20, and an upper portion 2|, each of which may beoffset, substantially as shown. Each of the upper.

portions 2| is connected to one of the lower portions 23 by a pluralityof vertically extending bars 22. 4

An angle bar 23 is fixedly secured to each of the lower sides of thebars 22 and is preferably placed adjacent to the outer surface of theupper side walls of. the chamber.

A guide means 23 is movably secured to each of the bars 23 by anysuitable means, such as, for instance, hinges 24. The inner faces of theleaves ofthe hinges 24 are preferably placed adjacent to the outsidesurfaces. of .the angle bars 23 and the guide means 23, as thisarrangement provides a smooth surface down which the bunched fibers mayfreely slide.

Each of the guide means 25'may be of any suitable construction, butpreferably includes a stiffening frame 21, and a metal sheet 28. Each ofthe guide means, if desired, may be provided with an apron 60, for thepurpose of preventing the fibers from clinging and packing between thelower edge of the upper side wall portions, and

- the upper edge of the guide means.

A plurality-of bearings'29 are fixedly secured to the rear of eachof theframes 21. These bearings are operatively connected by a pin 30 to aconnecting rod 3|, which passes through an open portion (not shown) inthe adjacent side wall. The outer portions 32 of the rods 3| areprovided with a nut means 33 which is rotatably mounted in a shaftedbearing 34. The bearing 34 is rotatably connected to a crank 35 which iskeyed to the adjacent one of two elongated shafts 36 which extendparallel to the side walls of the chamber.

The shafts 36 are mounted in a plurality of bearings 31 which arecarried on-any suitable supports such as, for instance, the supports 38and 39.- These supports are fixedly secured to the lower portions 20 ofthe frame 1 on either side of the chamber. The supports 39 differ from,

the supports 38 only in that the supports extend farther away from theframe and are adapted to also carry a motor 40 and a gear reductionmeans 4|. The gear reduction means is provided with a shaft 42, having awheel 43, which is coupled to one of the shafts 36, through a link 44,and a crank 45. The shafts 36 are each provided at the front end of thesettling chamber with sprocket wheels 26 which are operatively connectedtogether by a sprocket chain 46.

The foot portion 89 includes a plurality of upright supports 41 whichare connected to the lower frame portion 23 on either side of thechamber I, by means of plates 88. The plates 48 are bolted, or otherwisesecured, to the frame portion and to the supports.

An angle bar 49 is secured to the upper edge of each of these plates andis perforated to receive a bolt 50 which passes through a slottedportion 5| of a fiat horizontal bar 62. Half of these bars 52 passthrough slotted portions (not shown) in the lower side wall portion l3and the other half. of the bars pass through slotted portionsin thelower side wall portion l4. Each of these bars is I forming batt 4. Itis apparent that each of the plates may be moved inwardly and outwardlyby unbolting and moving the horizontal bars 52. The lower edges of theplates preferably extend to within a fraction of an inch of the uppersurface of a conveyor 51, which forms the base of the blow chamber.

In operation, the molten mineral material is shot into the blow chamberat a high velocity, where it forms mineral wool fibers which swirlrapidly through the heated vapors and gases in the blow chamber. Part ofthe suspended-fibers are deposited directly upon the conveyor, but alarger proportion of them float upwardly and come into contact withtheside walls H, l2 of the chamber I, to which they tend to cling.

The fibers rapidly combine in bunches and their aggregate weight causesthem to slide down the side walls. Were it not for the moving guidemeans 25, these bunches would fall on the edges of the forming'batt, andmake the batt high on its side portions, and low in its mid-section.

The guide means 251s designed to be constantly moving to and from thelower central portion 58 of the blow chamber. It will be noted (seeFigure 3) that the guide means 25 are so coupled to the motor drivengear reduction means 4| that while one of the guide means is swingingtoward the central portion 58, the other guide means is swingingtowardits adjacent side wall. It will alsobe noted that all of thefibers must fall between the lower edges of the guide means, and thatthese two guide means form, in effect, a huge funnel through whichstreams of fibers pass moving in a direction transverse to the directionof the conveyor travel,- thereby evenly spreading the descending fibersover the surface of the forming batt.

A particularfeature of my invention is that the guide means 25 and guideplates 54, can be quickly adjusted to make batts of any desired width bymerely loosening the bolt 50, and turning the nut 33. I

The settling chamber herein disclosed is adapted to production of rock,or slag wool, but it is obvious that the guide means and the guideplates forming the gist of my invention are equally adapted to beapplied and used in any type of settling chamber, on the base of .whichfibers are deposited from suspension, to form felted strips, blankets,or batts.

I claim:

1. A settling chamber for forming a strip of felted fiber ofsubstantially uniform thickness, said chamber being provided withoppositely disposed side Walls and having a downwardly inclined andhingedly mounted guide means secured to each of said side walls andbeing adapted for receiving the descending fibers and distributing saidfibers over successive transverse portions of the base of the chamber,said guide means being coupled to a driving mechanism for synchronouslymoving said guide means, portions of said driving mechanism passingthrough the walls of said chamber and being pivotally connected to eachof said guide means.

2. A settling chamber adapted for forming a strip of felted fibers ofsubstantially uniform thickness, said chamber including a roof, oppositeside walls, and a movable floor, a driving mechanism and a downwardlyinclined and hingedly supported guide means mounted adjacent each ofsaid side walls and being adapted for receiving chamber.

3. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, amovable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, and a guide leaf hingedlyconnected with a side of the chamber and depending therefrom, and meansfor swinging the guide leaf back and forth over the movable surfacewhereby fibers which have settled on the guide leaf may be distributedover the movable surface.-

4. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on whichthe fibers may be deposited, and a guide leaf hingedlyconnected with a side of the chamber and depending therefrom, and meansfor swinging the guide leaf back and forth over the movable surfacewhereby fibers which have settled on the guide leaf may be distributedover the movable surface. said means including an adjustable mechanismfor limiting the movement of the guide leaf in a given direction.

5. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, and a pair of guide leaveshin edly connected with opposite sides of the chamber and dependingtherefrom, and means for swinging the guide leaves back and forth overthe movable surface whereby fibers which have settled on the guideleaves may be distributed over the movable surface.-

6. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited,

and a pair of guide leaves hingedly connected with opposite sides of thechamber and depending therefrom, and means for swinging the guide leavesback and forth over the movable surface whereby fibers which havesettled on the guide leaves may be distributed over the movable surface,said means including a mechanism for synchronizing the swingingmovements of the guide leaves over the movable surface.

'7. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, and a pair of guide leaveshingedly connected with opposite sides of the chamber and dependingtherefrom, and means for swinging the guide leaves back and forth overthe movable surface whereby fibers which have settled on the guideleaves may be distributed over the movable surface, said means includingan adjustable mechanism for limiting the movements of the guide leavesin a given direction.

8. An apparatus for forming a layer of felted fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, and a pair of guide leaveshingedly-connected with opposite sides of the chamber and dependingtherefrom, and means for swinging the guide leaves back and forth overthe movable surface whereby fibers which have settled on the guideleaves may be'distributed over the movable surface, said means includinga mechanism for synchronizing the swinging movements of the guide leavesover the movable surface, said means including an adjustable mechanismfor limiting the movements of the guide leaves in a given direction.

9. An apparatus for forming a layer of mineral wool fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, a member positioned andmovably supported intermediate of the walls of the chamber and spacedapart from the movable surface to simultaneously push laterally andguide downwardly the fibers and means for moving the member back andforth over the movable surface whereby the fibers may be uniformlydistributed over the movable surface.

10. An apparatus for forming a layer of mineral wool fibers comprising achamber for receiving the fibers, a movable surface at the bottom of thechamber on which the fibers may be deposited, a member positioned andmovably supported intermediate of the walls of the chamber and spacedapart from the movable surface to simultaneously push laterally andguide downwardly the fibers and power.driv en means for continuouslymoving the member back and forth over the movable surface transverselyto the movement of said surface whereby the fibers may be dis tributeduniformly on the movable surface.

Em C. DRILL.

